Pain
by PlummyPlums
Summary: When a mission goes awry, Team 8 are hospitalized for a while. They don't take it lying down, however.
1. Awakening

As she came to, all Hinata could register was pain. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it was there, dampening her senses with discomfort. She opened her eyes carefully, but snapped them shut with a soft whimper upon the bright light entering her overly sensitive eyes. After taking a minute to open her eyes with as little pain as possible, she attempted to survey her surroundings A pristine room with a table beside the bed she was laying in...a hospital, then. She'd been in them a few times when her classmates were hurt, but never for herself. It was a strange feeling, the thought that she was injured, and she found she didn't like it.

The next thing she noticed was the person beside her. The usually piercing red eyes of Kurenai-sensei gazed at the young kunoichi with concern and what seemed like a bit of relief. Out of courtesy, Hinata gave her sensei a shy smile, and she received one in return. "Glad to see that you're finally awake. How are you feeling?"

Taking a moment to gather her thoughts into words, Hinata responded, "Not...well." Her throat was sore, and speaking hurt, causing her to wince. Kurenai handed her a glass of water, which she gratefully accepted with shaking hands. Her right wrist and arm were bandaged, and she realized that this was where a majority of the pain came from. She tried not to focus on the pain for now, however, and took a few tentative sips. Kurenai spoke as she drank.

"I should have expected that. You three took quite a beating out there. We didn't expect them to be so strong; if we had known their true power and numbers, we wouldn't have sent you on that mission."

That's right, they had been on a mission. There were some enemy chuunin loose in the outskirts of Konoha, and Team 8 had been sent to track and, hopefully, defeat them. Not much was known about these invaders, so they knew there was the possibility of them being stronger than the tracking team could handle, but they didn't expect to be completely overwhelmed. There ended up being six of the enemies, and they seemingly already had a plan. Team 8 had been strategically split up and forced to fight, presumably, two chuunin each, which led to them quickly being overpowered. Hinata herself had been chased through the woods as she frantically attempted to track down one of the others with the Byakugan and regroup, leading to a brutal fight that had ended with one of the enemy shinobi knocking her out and leaving her in the forest. The chuunin they had been fighting were likely nowhere to be found, laying low for a while before springing back into action. She and her team would have to train more and possibly bring reinforcements when fighting them again.

Come to think of it...she had never been able to locate either of the others during the incident, and they weren't in the same room as her. Where were they?

"What happened...what happened to...?" She still couldn't quite talk, but her fear bubbled to the surface despite the haze of medication. Her teammates were incredibly important to her, and despite them being strong ninja, they all had weaknesses. If someone was smart enough to utilize Kiba's ego and overconfidence against him, he could make horrible mistakes in battle and be taken down fast. Shino was weak in taijutsu and could easily be defeated in close combat, especially if the enemy was able to resist the kikaichu.

"Don't worry," Kurenai continued, "the others are okay, you'll all pull through just fine. However, all of you suffered some significant damage, so you're going to be in the hospital for at least a few days. In the meantime, I've got to find a way to get Kiba to take it easy". She chuckled and gave a playful smirk. The pale-eyed kunoichi giggled as well, wincing again when it sent sparks of pain through her chest, before resolving to simply smile softly.

Hinata was still a bit worried, despite the reassurance. None of them had ever been hospitalized for long periods of time, and she didn't know how they would all handle it. Kiba was known for being rowdy and would certainly get stir-crazy, Shino would likely dwell on their defeat and become focused on training, and Hinata herself didn't care for sitting around instead of being able to help. With each others' support, though, she was sure they'd be (relatively) fine. This probably wouldn't be the last time Team 8 would see the inside of Konoha's hospital, and they'd have to experience it sometime.

"I'm...I'm sure we'll be ok."


	2. Reunited

Aka; Plum gets more self-indulgent every day

* * *

It turned out that Hinata's right wrist was fractured and the bones in her forearm were bruised. This was likely from a nasty fall she had taken in the fight in the woods. The pains in her chest were apparently caused by a cracked rib, probably sustained from a hard kick in the fight. Thus, she had been confined to her bed for a week before she was allowed to try to stand, and even then, it was only upon request. Her sprained ankle made walking on her own tough, so she was only allowed to walk with an escort. During that time, she had gotten visits from some of the other rookies. Apparently, the "incident" with Team 8 had become well known, and everyone was anxious to know how the tracking ninja were fairing. Hinata received visits from Sakura, Lee, and even Naruto! She hadn't spoken much during his visits out of sheer embarrassment, but he had enough words for the both of them. His visit the best thing that had come out of this experience.

She was happy to finally be free from her bed. Her legs were a bit sore from underuse and her muscles were unused to all the movement, but she was determined to walk at least a bit. One thing was for sure, in her mind; she had to see her team and she had to see them now. She had gone too long without being able to check in on them, and it was making her anxious and adding to her cabin fever. With a kind young med-nin holding her non-damaged hand, she asked to go to Kiba's room, knowing he would appreciate the visit. The conditions of her teammates had been quite secretive (patient confidentiality was strict around here), but she knew from others that Kiba had broken his arm and that Shino wasn't taking visitors. Whether this was due to his condition or because he didn't want to deal with people was up for debate.

Despite the stress, Hinata was excited to at least see one of her teammates. She knew Kiba was likely getting stir-crazy, having to sit in bed all day, and he would enjoy the change of energy. Speaking of energy, she could hear his raucous complaining from down the hallway. A soft smile spread across her face as Kiba's voice resounded through the halls. He was yelling about how crappy the food was, Akamaru barking along enthusiastically. She knocked hard enough to ensure he'd hear her, and entered at his call to come in. She asked the med-nin to wait right outside the door to give them some privacy.

He looked rough. Without his trademark coat, she could see the extent of the damage on his arm and chest. The left arm was bandaged in a sling, laying limply against his chest. He gave a bright grin, raising his good arm in an excited wave. "Hinata! Man, is it good to see you; I've been so worried about ya! How're you doing? The damn people around here won't tell me anything!"

She giggled at his exuberant greeting, and went to sit in the chair at his bedside. "I'm alright. My wrist is fractured, and my ankle is sprained, but I'm not too injured otherwise. How are you? Your arm, uh, obviously your arm is broken, but are you ok otherwise?"

He shrugged his right shoulder. "I got off lucky. Other than my arm, the docs say everything's pretty much fine. Just some bruises and stuff, no big deal. Wish I could've been as lucky as Akamaru here, though, he didn't get a scratch!" He laughed and gave his nin-dog a pat on the head before his expression became bewildered. "Say, have you heard anything about Shino? Nobody will tell me anything other than that they couldn't see him, and sensei could only tell me that he wasn't doing great. I only heard about you from the others, and nobody got to see our resident bug nerd. All in all, I haven't had a great idea of what's been goin' on."

She sighed. That confirmed her fear; Kiba didn't know much about the condition of their third member either. "Nothing. Kurenai-sensei told me that we would all be alright, though, so he can't be too bad." She had hope that their recovery would be a simple hurdle in their path to be strong shinobi. This first hospital visit wasn't going to be a big deal, in the long run. It shouldn't.

Kiba scoffed indignantly. "This is ridiculous! How come nobody can tell us anything about our own teammate, huh? Even Kurenai-sensei's keepin' quiet!" Akamaru barked in response, seemingly agreeing with the sentiment.

The thought occurred to Hinata that _maybe no one knew what was wrong with him, maybe he was severely injured, maybe he was dying_ , but she chose to disregard it. That was just her anxiety talking. Sensei had told her that they would all be fine, and she had no reason to believe her sensei was lying. "Maybe...maybe we can request a visit? I know they said he wasn't taking visitors, but we're his team, and we at least deserve to know how he's doing."

After taking a moment to think this idea over, Kiba seemed pleased. He smiled wickedly, eyes twinkling with the promise of mischief. "Sounds good to me. And if they try to keep us out, we can always just sneak in! We're ninja, there's no way to keep us out if we wanna get in."

She grimaced at the thought of going against an order like that. Kiba was always overly eager to get into trouble, and his injuries didn't seem to hinder that urge in the slightest. "How about we...not do that? We don't wanna get in trouble, and we, uh, we're still injured too."

His shoulders slumped, but thankfully, Kiba agreed to listening to the med-nin. He stood on his own, Akamaru following at his heels, and they left the room to speak to the supervising med-nin. Hinata put on her best "sweet young girl" facade and spoke to the woman.

"Excuse me, miss? Could we go visit our friend, please? He's here too, and we haven't gotten to see him yet. His name's Shino Aburame, do you know what room he's in?"

She was lucky to have gone with this nurse, as she seemed easily swayed by her act. Seeming contemplative for a minute, she looked back at Hinata curiously. "The one with the bugs, right? We aren't supposed to let in anyone but family, he's not in good condition right now"

"What do you mean he's 'not in good condition right now'?" Kiba was obviously getting more upset by the minute, and his hand twitched threateningly.

A conflicted look crossed the woman's face, and she seemed very unwilling to reveal the truth. "I'm not supposed to talk about the conditions of other patients. Confidentiality is very important here…" She trailed off, staying silent a moment. "Oh, screw confidentiality, you deserve to know. He suffered an epidural hematoma and minor skull fracture due to a serious blow to the head, and he's having some issues recovering due to the presence of the...bugs. We've performed a procedure to reduce the pressure on his brain, and he's currently sedated."

The pregnant silence that followed was uncomfortable, and the tension could be cut with a kunai. Hinata was in shock, but Kiba seemed confused. "What's an epidermal-whatever?"

Her expression was somber, tears threatening to well in her pale eyes. "P-people tend to refer to it as...as a brain bleed. It's...pretty bad."

Kiba looked furious, but she knew he was just frustrated and worried. He cared very deeply for his "pack", and he wouldn't stand for either of his teammates being injured beyond a simple scratch. "How bad?"

"...it...it could've killed him."

* * *

Ya caught me, this was just an excuse to hurt Shino. I love him, thus, he must be in pain (pun intended).  
This is probably the longest chapter of anything I've ever written, and I worked very hard, so I'm pretty proud of it. Tell me what y'all think!


End file.
